


Matched Pair

by Severina



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: tv-universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 04:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4046641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The worst part was knowing that her impetuous act had left him alone and helpless. The worst part was knowing that if she had to do it all again, she'd make a different choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matched Pair

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's tv_universe for the 'As Seen on TV' prompt (pictured below.) I have never watched OUATiW so I know little of Anastasia and Will's story except that they love each other.
> 
> * * *

The Prompt:  
[](http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Severina2001/media/tvu%20round%205/round%208/814-03_zpsy0kz9cev.jpg.html)  


Matched Pair  
by Severina

Belle drifted listlessly through the Storybrooke Mall. She let her feet wander where they may, no destination in mind except _away_ – away from the silent library (that he gave her) and the musty shop (that belongs to him) and the over-large house with its creaking floorboards and its hidden nooks and crannies and its plush king-sized bed (where he would cuddle with her on a morning such as this, one arm draped around her waist, lips nuzzling at her neck and making her giggle and squirm.) Away from the sympathetic looks from her friends; away from the whispers from flapping lips that hush quickly at her approach and resume when she walks by on the street.

_"She should have known better."_

_"What did she expect, dallying with the Dark One?"_

_"Evil calls to evil, make no mistake."_

Belle stopped and picked up a random item from the shelf, stared at it with unseeing eyes. Vicious gossips, all of them. And the worst part was picking up the hateful words from those she expected to understand her loss, empathize with her pain. She expected more from Granny, from Leroy. 

No. The worst part was waking up at night remembering Rumple's trembling lips, hearing him confessing his fear as she pushed him away. The worst part was knowing that her impetuous act had left him alone and helpless. The worst part was knowing that if she had to do it all again, she'd make a different choice. The worst part was knowing that it was too late. 

"You'd be better off gettin' the real thing, love," a voice said at her elbow.

Belle started, blinked to clear her eyes before looking up. "Will," she said. She frowned. "What..?"

He nodded down at the package in her hands. She followed his gaze, and had to stifle a surprised snort when she noticed what she'd blindly plucked from the shelf. She shook her head and placed the 'boyfriend pillow' firmly back where it belonged. "No, I… I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, I'm afraid," she said.

"Understandable, these days," he answered. Belle braced herself for a round of treacly sympathy or barely hidden contempt, but got neither when Will merely leaned back against an adjoining shelf, crossed his arms at his chest. "Missin' his arms, yeah?"

"Missing all of him," she admitted quietly. She realized suddenly that it was the first time she'd said it out loud, the first time she'd confessed what was truly in her heart. Even when Ruby had arrived at her doorstep with wine and they'd spent the evening getting thoroughly drunk, she hadn't dare admit that she missed her husband, that she spent every waking moment wishing she could take it all back despite everything he'd done.

She still expected shock, disgust, a look of censure at the very least. But Will only nodded. 

And Belle remembered then the idle talk when Will Scarlet first showed up in Storybrooke, nattering tongues wagging as people shared what little they knew of Wonderland. She'd picked up tidbits here and there, stories of a wicked queen that unsettled her, and gone to Rumplestiltskin for the truth. But he'd only looked up briefly from tinkering with a jewel, lifted a shoulder. "Aaah, Anastasia," he'd said, his eyes distant for a moment. She'd imagined what it must be like, then, flitting through hundreds of years of memories to find the ones you seek. The thought was almost as unnerving as that of another evil queen loose in the lands. "There are tales of her reign of terror that rival anything Regina got up to, Belle. Still," he'd finished before turning back to his task, "there are reasons upon reasons why a person makes the choices she does."

She'd felt sympathy for Anastasia without every knowing her, then. Now, she bit nervously at her lip before venturing to speak. "You… you have a true love," she finally said.

"Anastasia," he said, straightening and visibly brightening. "Beautiful as the sun, she is." 

"Can I ask what happened?"

"Rather not talk about it," Will said abruptly. "Makes me want to punch things, and Inspector Gadget there might not take kindly to me messin' up his store, like."

Belle followed his gaze to the storekeeper, who was indeed glaring at them as though they may at any moment decide to run amok among his silly contraptions. "Perhaps we should leave," she suggested, and smiled when Will gestured for her to lead the way from the store.

"Well," she said when they had left behind the kitschy displays, "it was nice talking to you, Will."

"It gets lonely," he blurted out as she turned to part from him.

Belle stopped, the tears that she had managed to keep at bay all day suddenly very close to the surface. Lonely does not begin to describe the feeling of waking up next to cold sheets instead of a warm body, of cereal eaten standing alone at the counter, of days when the only voice she hears is her own. It has only been two weeks, and she doesn't know how she will possibly handle of lifetime of it. She gasped back a sob before turning to face him again, but could not keep her lip from trembling. "It does," she murmured.

"There's a tea shop down the way," he said. "Ain't got nothin' on the rosehips and thyme brew that we used to get up to in Sherwood Forest, but it fills the hole in the gullet, anyway."

She took a breath, twined her fingers anxiously around the strap of her purse. It would be easier to decline, to run back to the shop that no one ever enters and hide amongst Rumple's things, to let the memories soothe and torment her in equal measure. But Belle has never taken the easy way out, not since the moment she made a deal in her father's castle. 

She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders. "I've always been fond of a good cup of tea," she said.

"Never said nothin' about good," Will reminded her, "but I reckon you won't need your stomach pumped after, so there's that. "

"A ringing endorsement," Belle said. And when he held out his arm, she hesitated only a fraction of a second before taking it. She matched her steps to his, letting him lead her toward the shop. Away from the gawking eyes of the merchant, the whispers that follow in her wake. Just away.


End file.
